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The simplest explanation of apnea is that it’s a medical condition when a person makes pauses in breathing during the sleep. Besides that, breathing seems shallow and interrupted, with snoring between pauses. And that’s usually very loud and annoying snoring. Those pauses can be short and take a piece of a second, but can take very long time.

That can be very dangerous. The long break between breaths tends to stop someone breathing during the sleep. The person literally can suffocate. After the pause is finished, a person take a deep breath (because the organism is empty and feel stressed due to break in breathing); which can be followed with the ugly and loud sound of snoring.

A major problem in treating apnea is common believing that snoring is not a big problem. That is why the person avoids visiting the doctor. Even the person snore and its family complain about it. Snoring basically doesn’t cause apnea, but can be a very important symptom of it. Sometimes it shows that person’s life is practically in danger. That’s why is threatening of apnea starts from an understanding of the snoring and learning about the causes of it.

Snoring is a condition which people usually tend to ignore and make fun of it. Even family and partner find it very annoying and disturbing; this condition basically is not harmful, except for the married people who must live with the partner who snores. Otherwise, nobody else realizes how dangerous snoring can be. But, it is dangerous. When snoring is followed by apnea it can cause death. So, if you’ve know that you snore; you should consider the possibility of having apnea.

Do you remember children’s comic books when everybody who sleeps has the cloud with the letter „Z“ on the top of the head?

According to scientists, half of the population on the world snore. It’s possible that you or your partner snores. As a matter of fact, if you’ve never heard your partner snoring, you should consider the possibility that you are the one who snore… And, there is a very big chance that you or your family knows how sound of snoring looks like. Practically, every home has someone who snores.

In normal condition, snoring is just a sound of turbulence and resistance in the upper airway. Snoring can look like that it comes from the nose, but that’s a mistake. It’s actually formed in the back of airway, behind the tongue, usually because of the stricter oropharynx. All of these happen during the sleep when the airway is relaxed and the person doesn’t control breathing. This usually happens during the REM phase of the sleep, when your dream is deepest. Upper airway becomes tight and smaller than usual; air, passing through the airway, causes vibrating of the soft tissues behind the tongue.

There are many factors that cause snoring, from age (elder snore more often than younger people), over the sex to the weight. Obesity people has more chance for a problem with snoring. There are also other causation like drinking alcohol or un-comforted position during the sleep. Those causation are permanent and stop after the changing of the position or bad habits.

If you found that every night is time for the “music” which comes from you, you should ask yourself do you have this disorder. Even the condition is usually taken as “normal” or “very often”, this condition is a very reliable symptom of sleeping apnea. And doctor should consider it and take all steps needed to examine the person and find the best cure.

Especially if some other symptoms are present, like repeated pauses in breathing during the day, excessive daytime sleepiness or loud and short inhaling during sleep, you are maybe a person with sleeping apnea.

Sleeping apnea is an actually chronic condition which doesn’t mean that it’s incurable, but interrupts the sleep and cause serious problems with the persons’ life quality. Those persons usually have short breath and poor concentration. Sometimes they have very obvious slow reflexes. They can’t fall in deep sleep or if they can they very easy wake-up and sleep poor and light. The consequences are obviously tiredness which leads to increased risk of accidents, prolonged stress, and many other sicknesses after a while. Even in daily sleeping a person can’t relax and fall into sleep.

Sometimes this problem is detected on regular doctor’s examination. And sometimes a person comes to the doctor because of problems with someone others sleeping. It’s not unusual to see someone’s wife in doctor’s office to ask for a help or advice.

The person who has sleeping apnea episodes during the sleep has a problem with oxygen level in the blood, which drops from time to time while the breathing stops. That’s why brain must wake up that person with a characteristic choking sound. A person, who was in sleep a second ago, usually doesn’t remember that sound or interrupted breathing and fall in sleep again. This type is called obstructive sleep apnea. The other type is central sleep apnea when a person does remember awakenings and that shocking during the sleep is something which is aware of.

If you have any of these symptoms go to your doctor:

Feeling short of breath during the night or after the shockingly waking up

Constantly feeling of tiredness, daytime sleepiness, and fatigue

There are some other symptoms which you may consider:

A sore throat and dry mouth every time after waking up

Nighttime awakenings and insomnia

Frequently going to the bathroom during the night

A headache in the morning

Impotence

Restless together with the fitful sleep

Depression with unusual moodiness and irritability

It’s especially dangerous if apnea is found in children, but it’s very easy to recognize in them. They sleep in strange positions, have perspiration at night, suffer from bed-wetting, have night terrors and loudly snore. In this case, if you suspect on sleeping apnea you immediately must go to the pediatrician who will do all important examines.

People are usually afraid of this condition once when they found out that they have it, but that is not something you should be scared of. There are many different and very successful ways for curing sleep apnea so you don’t need to worry about the resolving the problem you may have. Some of the very easy ways of curing apnea are:

Weights lose – if the doctor finds that you are obesity person, he will recommend weight loss as the first step in curing sleep apnea. That’s very easy to detect, just with measuring the person’s weight and finding the BMI as the comparison of someone’s weight, height, and age. There is a very obvious connection between obesity and sleep apnea, so the doctor will firstly consider that.

Surgical – when all other problems are solved and the person still has a problem, the doctor will recommend a surgeon. Besides the potentially surgically resolving a problem with obesity; the doctor can also operate upper airway where the stenosis is found and free airway for normally breathing.

If the problem with sleeping apnea is not that big and the person doesn’t have an anatomic problem in the body, he can learn some easy home methods for curing sleeping apnea. That actually means using home remedies which can’t cause any harm to the person, but can be very useful and successful in curing sleep apnea.

Honey

Honey has many great ingredients, which are not good only in curing, but as the prevention and stopping the many diseases and disorders. They have anti-inflammatory properties, good in curing and threatening inflammations and infections; reducing the swelling around the throat and lubricating it. It’s also great for promoting sleep and relaxation. Drink a glass of water with a tablespoon of honey before bedtime.

Chamomile

As our mothers learned us, chamomile tea before bedtime or after the stress situation can make a miracle for our dream and relaxation. It’s enough to use two tablespoons of tea and put it in a cup of hot water. After five minutes the tea is ready for drinking. You can drink it every night before bedtime or during the day. It’s actually no limitation in drinking the tea and if you like it, go ahead!

Cinnamon

A popular ingredient in the cookies is actually a great sedative with many benefits for our health and sleep. Add a medium-size cinnamon stick to a cup of hot water with a tablespoon of grated ginger and boil for a few minutes. You can also add a honey, which has a double effect and drink every day before bed. You can also use a cinnamon powder with boiled water as a tea that you’ll drink once a day. Or put cinnamon mixed with a little water on shoulder and neck for better sleep.

Lavender

As the most common cure for stress and insomnia, lavender can be prepared in many ways, but the best usage is as oil solution. Few drops of lavender oil put in a cup of hot water, wait for a couple of minutes. Inhale it before bedtime or at any time during the day when you need a relaxation.

Garlic

It can be swallowed with a glass of water before bedtime every night, but consult the doctor if you have any problem with the stomach and digestion.

Peppermint

It’s actually good option for reducing blockage in upper airways and for easy breathing. You can use it in water solution and inhale it. You can also consume it as a tea prepared with a cup of boiled water and a tablespoon of peppermint leaves.

Whatever the problem with your breathing and sleeping is, you should visit your doctor and consult him before starting with any home remedies.